PITCH-IN CANADA
Resource Centre

Re-Think Activities
An educational Unit for children up to Grade 4
Written by Valerie Thom, B.Ed. and edited by Allard W. van Veen, APR, Fellow, CPRS

This unit has six chapters, each filled with information, ideas and projects. Words in bold and in italics are featured in the glossary which you can reach by clicking here

REUSING AND RECYCLING: ACTIVITY 8          Let’s PITCH-IN And Recycle!                         K – 3
(For communities that have a curbside (household) or other easily accessible recycling system such as a Recycling Centre.)

Skills: making posters

Time: one class period

Learning Objective: students will list the items that are accepted in the community’s recycling program; students will describe how those items are to be prepared for recycling.

NOTE: you may wish to keep the list compiled in step 3 of this Activity for use in LITTER: ACTIVITY 8.

Materials and Equipment: obtain information on what can be collected in your community recycling program, and how those materials should be prepared; samples of each type of material that can be recycled in your community.

Activity:

1. Ask students to tell you about the community recycling program and record their comments on the board. (You may wish to omit this if working with a kindergarten class.)

2. With the class, make a list of items that they think can be collected in the community recycling system.

3. Show the class the information you have obtained, and together correct the class list if necessary.

4. Discuss with the class how the materials should be prepared for recycling.

5. As a demonstration, or with the students, practise preparing the materials for recycling. Stress the steps the students could safely do at home to help their families recycle.

6. Form students into groups, assign each group one of the items that can be recycled.

7. Have each group make up a poster, illustrating the item assigned to the group, and how it should be prepared for recycling. Display the posters in the school.

Discuss with the students:

Why is it important we prepare the materials they way we are asked to?

Can you think of some reasons why some materials are not accepted for recycling? (No market for product, no technology to recycle, no plants nearby that can recycle the material)

Are there other ways of reusing these items? (e.g. unwanted clothes to go to charity, etc.)

Click here to return to the Index for Chapter 5 and more activities

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